Snapshots and Soundbites of Korean Culture

Snapshots and Soundbites of Korean Culture takes a novel approach to understanding Korea’s past and present by blending sounds, imagery, texts, and online and printed materials to provide a multisensory, multimodal experience of Korean culture. Each entry showcases vitally important people, objects, places, events, and institutions that help us conceptualise Korean history, society, and culture. The volume comprises short, transcribed lectures on specific aspects of Korean culture, accompanied by explanatory notes, images, and links to a specially prepared website featuring voice recordings, additional images, and class-ready teaching resources. Contributors to the volume include some of the most respected researchers in Korean Studies, such as Martina Deuchler, Don Baker, Chan E. Park, Vladimir Tikhonov, John Duncan, and Park, Tae-gyun, alongside emerging scholars. Each entry is written in an accessible style, making the book appealing to scholars, Korean Studies students, and readers with a general interest in Korea. The variety of topics examined includes iconic objects (ondol), important historical figures (Yun Sŏn-do, Pak Hŏn-yŏng), central events (the 1637 Qing Invasion and the 1980 Kwangju Uprising), and vital beliefs (shamanism) – all of which help us conceptualise what has made Korea the place it is. Additional resources can be found at snapshotssoundbites.wordpress.com. The text serves as an academic study, a reference work, a book for leisurely reading, or as primer for university-level Korean Studies survey courses.